USA > New York > Livingston County > A history of Livingston County, New York: > Part 39
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HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
they succeeded in hiring a sloop to convey them up to Albany. Like the first company, they too made Johnstown their stopping place, where they remained for a time.
Not finding any place that suited them, they turned faces to the Genesee country. Arrived here they were treated with great hospitality and kindness by those who were already settled. In the spring of 1804 they located on what was called the "forty thousand acre tract," immediately sout of the Pul- teney lands and belonging to the Holland Company. The name Inverness, then given to the district where they took up their residence, was long retained by it. They paid from $3.50 to $3.75 per acre for their lands.
The houses of the first settlers were generally of very rude construction. Bark served the purpose of shingles, the floor, if there was one, was made of slabs split off from logs, rudely smoothed with the axe. Doors were made of the same material. As soon, however, as John McKay had finished his saw- mill in 1804, a very marked improvement took place in the houses.
The want of a school was very soon felt in the set- tlement. The people accordingly met together and resolved to establish one. The school-house was built of logs, in the year 1803, as nearly as can be learned. It stood on the Allen's creek road, about a quarter of a mile west of John A. McVean's corner, a point which was then very nearly in the center of the settle- ment. This was the first school-house west of the Genesee river. Alexander McDonald was the first teacher.
In this log school-house the early settlers met regu- larly on Sabbath days for religious worship. Prayers were made, portions of scripture read, and sometimes commented on. There was among them a man by the
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name of Peter Farquharson, who had enjoyed con- siderable advantages in the old country, and had even made some progress in classical knowledge. When he was present he was generally called on to read a sermon out of some approved volume. Occasionally they were favored with the presence of a minister. It was here that the church was first organized by the Rev. Jedediah Chapman of Geneva. This occurred in March, 1805. As part of the organization proceed- ings, three elders were chosen, two of whom were to officiate as deacons. It is believed these were Donald Mckenzie, Duncan McPherson and Donald Anderson. The church thus organized was taken under the care of the Presbytery of Geneva. It was occasionally supplied by Mr. Chapman, and by the Rev. Mr. Lindsley of Big Tree, now Geneseo.
Mr. Williamson, it will be remembered, had prom- ised the people who settled here on the lands for which he was agent, that he would grant them two hundred acres for church and school purposes. The deed, however, could not be made out until there was a re- ligious society legally constituted. But before that event took place, in 1802, Mr. Williamson had ceased to be the agent of the Land Company. Colonel Throup, his successor, though bound, of course, to fulfill all his engagements, seemed unwilling to give the society the promised deed, and it was not until 1805, after repeated solicitations by letters and by messengers, that he did so. When the deed came from Geneva, a meeting of the society was called at the house of James McLaren, to receive it. It was first resolved to deposit the deed in the hands of Peter Farquharson. By a second resolution "all persons were excluded from having any interest or property in the Donation Land, except such as lived on the Pulteney lands." This resolution was directed against
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the new comers from Inverness, who had the year be- fore bought on the Forty Thousand acre tract. " Against such unprecedented proceedings, which had a tendency to tarnish the Christian religion and dis- member societies and congregations," Peter Campbell and Alex. McDonald "protested." Here was the be- ginning of the strife that for so many years agitated the settlement. The Donation Land, intended to be so useful, resulted: for a time at least in very great injury. The church became divided into two factions, and a long series of quarrels ensued, resulting some- times in violence, often in bitter words and bad feel- ing throughout the settlement. It was not until ten or twelve years had elapsed that the. controversy was ended by an equitable division of the property be- tween the two societies into which the original church had become divided.
Beside the two hundred acres given to the society- they lay on the south side of Allen creek, and included what is called "the old burying ground"-a lot of two acres lying in the village laid out near the springs was granted as the site of a church and manse. Upon this lot, in 1805, the people built a log meeting-house, thirty feet by forty. In this work, though they were already, as we have seen, alienated from one another, the people from Inverness and those from Perthshire labored harmoniously together. This primitive church stood not far from the site of the house now occupied by Mr. Hatch, its gable ends facing east and west. Alexander Denoon was secured as minister.
At the town meeting held in April, 1805, the sum of $100 was voted for bounty on wolves, and the bounty for every wolf killed within the limits of the town was fixed at $5.
In the spring of 1807 an event occurred that filled the infant settlement with horror, and made a deep
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impression on many. A number of men were engaged in laying out a road in the neighborhood of Duncan McColl's. Some trifling dispute arose between James McLean, a very bad tempered man, and William Orr. McLean grew very much enraged, and all at once raised his axe and cleft Orr's skull, killing him almost instantly. Archibald McLaughlin came up a moment after, and stooping down to look at the murdered man, exclaimed in a tone of reproach, "Oh, Lachlin, Lachlin, and what have you done now !" Without any further provocation he raised his axe again, and striking Mc- Laughlin on the shoulder, cut him down to the very heart. Donald McColl, then a boy about 16 years old, with great boldness and dexterity, jerked the axe off McLean's shoulder and hid it in a thick jungle of hazel bushes. He then fled, as for his life, to the vil- lage. McLean pursued him until he found he could not overtake him, and then he hid himself. Mean- while Donald McColl reached the village frightened almost out of his senses, and gave the alarm. The whole settlement was roused to arrest the murderer. By hiding himself in hollow logs and in the woods he succeeded in escaping to Canandaigua, where he was suspected and arrested. He was afterward convicted and executed at Batavia.
About this time there grew up quite a little village about the springs. John McKay's saw mill, and his grist mill, to which people sometimes came even from the neighborhood of Buffalo, brought considerable business to the place. In 1805 John Cameron came in from Geneva and opened a store in connection with a tavern. Up to that time the settlers had been obliged to purchase the few things they bought either at Wil- liamsburgh or Canandaigua. Three or four years later Colonel Robert Mckay started another store, which was extensively patronized.
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HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
On the 12th of May, 1808, the excise commissioner of the town licensed nine persons to keep an inn of tavern in the town of Caledonia.
The year 1810 was memorable as the one in which & stage commenced running through the place, convey- ing the mail. This stage started from Canandaigua on Monday morning at 6 o'clock, and passing through this place, Batavia and Buffalo, reached Niagara on Thursday at 3 o'clock in the morning. The fare was six cents per mile. Six years afterward a tri-weekly stage run west as far as Batavia. Thence to Buffalo an open wagon went whenever there were passengers.
On the breaking out of the war of 1812 the Scotch people of Caledonia showed considerable enthusiasm. A company was raised among them, and under the command of Robert Mckay volunteered its services on the frontier. It was actively engaged both that and the following years. In 1813 Captain MeKay was promoted to the rank of Colonel, and William Duer succeeded him in the command. While serving at Black Rock under Colonel Blakeslee, Colonel Mckay and several others were taken prisoners and carried to Montreal, where, after a time, they were exchanged. During the whole course of the war the settlers here showed themselves strongly attached to the interests of their adopted country.
During the war the village of Caledonia was a favor- ite stopping-place for the soldiers and sailors passing to and fro between the seaboard and the lakes. On one occasion a party of about five hundred sailors, who had been drafted to man Commodore Perry's fleet on Lake Erie, stopped for a few hours at noon on their way west. They were transported by a train of between seventy and one hundred great wagons. At that time all the land between the main street in the village and the shore of the springs was open. There
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they were turned out to cook their dinner. Near by there was a field of potatoes, belonging to Robert Mc- Kay. As soon as the sailors discovered it they began to dig the potatoes to cook for their dinner. Mr. Mc- Kay was, of course, greatly incensed, and sternly ordered the trespassers off, but they did not notice him except to laugh and joke at his expense. He and several of his friends then armed themselves and entered the field, determined to defend property, even at the expense of life. A fight was imminent when the commanding officers, who were enjoying them- selves in Mr. Cameron's tavern, were sent for, who soon allayed the disturbance. In the course of the afternoon the detachment moved on to the west, and spent the night near Batavia. The next day they reached Buffalo and were immediately put on board the fleet. Before the next morning they had secured prizes near Fort Erie valued at $200,000.
At about the same time the people were very much annoyed by a squadron of dragoons which passed twice through the place. Nothing was secure from their depredations. When word was brought to the village that they were returning from the west, every one made haste to shut up his fowls and lock all his doors, taking care to hide away all articles of any value. They wheeled into the open space before the spring for a halt, and after they had tethered and cared for their horses, they began to scatter for plun- der. A party entered John Cameron's store and there, despite all the efforts of those who were employed to protect the goods, they appropriated everything they could lay their hands on. One of the party, having asked to look at buckskin gloves, a package was shown him, and in less than five minutes, during which time the utmost confusion and noise prevailed, every pair was gone, safely stowed away in a dragoon's pouch.
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HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY. 511
Detachments escorting British prisoners, and carry- ing wounded and dead Americans eastward, often passed through the village.
William Armstrong was one of the most influential of the early settlers. He was a native of Falkirk, and came here, it is believed, in 1807. Being a Low- lander he was regarded by his clannish Highland neighbors as a speckled bird, and they were not dis- posed to respect him much at first. By his generous liberality, however, to all who were straitened, his strong common sense, and especially by his deep and consistent piety, he won very soon a position of great esteem and influence among them. He died in 1829, after a lingering and painful illness. His loss was very greatly felt in the settlement.
Judge Willard H. Smith was another man who ex- erted a large influence over the infant settlement, and added greatly to its growth and prosperity. He was born at Chesterfield, Cheshire county, New Hampshire. When six years of age his father removed to Hamshire county, Massachusetts, where Judge Smith was edu- cated. On the 11th of January, 1814, he removed to Caledonia, where he opened a law-office. In 1832 he became County Judge, and presided for nearly six- teen years, during which time several suits of great importance were tried before him. He was a lawyer of great ability, a judicial officer who was prompt, firm and incorruptible, and a citizen who was always held in great esteem by his neighbors and acquaintances.
CONESUS.
Area, 19,996 acres; population in 1875, 1,377; boundaries : on the north by Livonia; east by Cana-
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HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
dice (Ontario Co.) ; south by Sparta and Springwater ; west by Groveland.
Conesus lies upon the eastern border of the county. Its general surface is more elevated than any other town of the eastern range. The town of Conesus was organized in 1819. On the 13th of April of that year the Legislature enacted that "all that part of town- ship eight, in the sixth range of townships (then) in- cluded in the towns of Livonia and Groveland, except that part of township eight lying on the east side of Hemlock lake and adjoining the town of Richmond, shall be, and the same is hereby erected into a sepa- rate town by the name of Freeport," and the same act appointed the first town meeting to be held at the dwelling-house of Enoch Squibble, near the head of Conesus lake. On the 26th of March, 1824, the Legis- lature changed the name of the town to Bowersville, and on the 15th of April of the following year the present name was adopted by authority of the Legis- lature.
The name of Freeport was derived, it is said, from the following circumstance : A squatter who had been a sailor, settled on a particular lot near the brow of the western hill. After fencing it in and making some improvements he was forcibly driven off by the owner. The ejection provoked the landless pioneer, who, at some pains, published his version of the story, urging that however ready other sections might be to welcome immigrants, this particular region was no "free-port." This name, for want of a better, clung to the locality, and when the town was set off it re- tained the designation.
Bowersville was derived from Henry Bowers, a large land-owner and early settler. Conesus, it is scarcely necessary to say, is the Indian name of the lake along which the town lies.
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CONESUS LAKE. LOOKING NORTH FROM THE HEAD.
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HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
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The township was early laid out by Henry Bowers into lots numbered from 1 to 139. Five of these lots, comprising 814 acres, were set apart for the benefit of Canandaigua Academy, of which institution Mr. Bowers was a liberal patron. On the re-survey of the township it was found that the first five lots of the series were situated in Hemlock lake.
The surface of the town is rolling, though marked in some parts by abrupt hills which slope down on the east and west to the two lakes. The soil is some- what more clayey than the general average of the County, though portions of it are equal to the best upland anywhere found for winter wheat. The tim- ber is principally oak, walnut and chestnut on the upland ; and ash, pine, elm and swamp-oak in the valleys and low lands. The Marrowback hills, which rise in places to the height of many hundred feet, run through the eastern part of the town, their general course being nearly parallel with Hemlock lake. The Calaboge valley extends from near the centre of the town into Springwater. Turkey hill runs along the western border of the town, keeping the direction of Conesus lake. This range of hills took name from the levies occasionally made upon the poultry yards in the valley, by a few families given to petty pillage who lived upon this hill. McMillan Gully or Mill Creek, terminates near the shore of Conesus lake. Its steep sides are, in some places, from 60 to 100 feet in height. The roadway passes near the edge of the gully. Some years ago a resident of the town named Hamilton was thrown from his wagon at the most pre- cipitous point, while under the influence of liquor, and falling to the bottom of the gully, was killed. Purchase Valley, on Lot No. 41, is marked by equally precipitous banks. Specimens of bituminous slate are found in the rock composing the walls. During
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HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
the War of 1812 a drafted soldier from Conesas de- serted from the army, then lying near Buffalo, and took refuge in this gully, then so thickly wooded along its margin as to be almost inaccessible. The period was mid-winter, and as he was aware that a reward had been offered for his arrest, he kept closely concealed during the day-time in a nest he had formed for himself among the upper branches of a venerable hemlock tree, closely surrounded by smaller trees. At night he was in the habit of visiting a neighboring log hut for his food. Officers scoured the gully sev- eral times, but did not succeed in discovering his hiding-place.
John, James, Samuel and Matthew McNinch were among the early settlers, as were Francis, Joseph, John and Elijah Richardson. The first saw-mill was erected on Mill creek, near the Centre, in 1793, by James Henderson and Jacob Dunham. Eleven hands raised the mill, five of whom came from Dansville and six from Lima.
The earliest settler of the town was James Hender- son, who removed from Pennsylvania in 1794, and located on lot 49, near the head of Conesus lake. Hugh Mckay came in 1795, and got out the logs for a house. The following year he invited the Indians from Squakie Hill to come and help him raise the house. Jacob Dunham also came in 1795, and the following year Jesse Collar located on lot 109. The Indians were very friendly, and readily sold them eorn for bread and seed. The corn was fitted for the table by pounding it in a hole burned into the top of a stump, and then sifted through a sieve of bark splints.
Jacob Collar was born in Sussex county, New Jer- sey, l'eb. 25th, 1770. In the spring of 1796, in com- pany with his father, Jesse Collar, he settled in Con-
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esas, on lot 109. The same year Hugh Harrison of Groveland was married to Phebe Collar, the first wed- ding in Conesus. When Mr. Collar removed from New Jersey, he loaded his effects into two large Jersey wagons, one of which was drawn by three horses, and the other by an ox team. The journey was made in twenty-eight days. A portion of the way they were compelled to cut a path through what was known as the beech woods, some days making not more than half a dozen miles. When night came on, bark and boughs would be collected and piled about a dry log and the whole set on fire, affording an opportunity for cooking their food and drying their clothing. On reaching Conesus they set about erecting a log house. The land was so thickly wooded that it was not found necessary to draw the logs to erect the house ; enough were felled on the site. Darling and Isaac Havens of Sparta and the Culbertson brothers of Groveland came and helped to raise the house. For some time after the family settled in Conesus there was no road for wagons. In going to Dansville on horseback, the way was marked by "blazed " trees to the foot of Bowers' hill.
It is stated that when Mr. Henderson made his set- tlement in the town he, inadvertently probably, in- truded upon some land which the Indians had some years before cleared and planted with apple trees. This caused a good deal of ill feeling among the In- dians, and in order to live in peace with them, Mr. Henderson made it a custom, for years, of making annual presents to the Indians of such articles as would please their fancy.
About the year 1800 a singular man settled in the town, on lot 19, on the west side of Hemlock lake. His retiring disposition and isolated, lonely life won for him the title of the " Hermit." His real name was
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Meloy, and he gained his livelihood by hunting and fishing. A story is told of his encounter with a bear in Hemlock lake early one morning. The bear upset the boat, and afterward tried to mount it. Meloy would strike him with the oar, and the bear would strike back with his paw. Finally, after a desperate struggle, the bear was drowned.
James McNinch, another old settler, came to Cone- sus in 1807, and settled on lot 111. During the sum- mer and fall he built a log house, leaving it to be completed at odd spells. In place of a door, which Mr. McNinch had not had time to make, Mrs. Mc- Ninch hung up a bed blanket. One evening Mr. McNinch was absent, and his sister came to spend the night. Venison had been cooked in the fore part of the evening, and about 9 o'clock the wolves, scenting the meat, began to collect about the house. They grew bolder by degrees until they threatened to come into the house. The two women managed to get a horse which had been hitched a short distance away, and fastened him to the door-post. Whenever the wolves attempted to get into the house the horse would kick and fight them, and with this and the aid of bright lights they were enabled to keep the hungry wolves at bay until help came.
The first school in the town was opened in the win- ter of 1810 in a small log house near the residence of James D. Alger, with Mary Howe as teacher. It is recollected that greased paper was used in the win- dows, instead of glass.
Mrs. Lucy Patterson, whose father settled in the present town of Lima in 1802, and removed to Conesus in 1806, says the nearest grist-mill at this time was at the present village of Hemlock Lake, while the near- est store was Gurnsey's, at Lima, where the people generally did their trading. Mrs. Patterson also
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says: "When we came into this place our nearest place where meeting for worship was held was in a frame school house on what was then called Buell Hill, about one mile south on the road leading from Livonia Center to the village of Hemlock Lake." Here service was held by the Presbyterians. About 1810 a number of Methodist families began to settle in the town, and meetings for worship were frequently held at private houses. Families of the Baptist per- suasion also began to come in, who likewise met for devotional exercises. A Baptist clergyman named Ingraham, who lived in Conesus in 1808, preached oc- casionally. He is said to have been the first clergy- man who settled in the town, and the Rev. John Hud- son, a Methodist, who settled here about the year 1815, the next. About the year 1816 the Methodist Episcopal Society was organized in Conesus Center, and Mr. Hudson became the pastor of the church. In 1818 a society of the Christian order was organized, near Foot's Corners, but it existed for only a few years.
On the 16th and 17th of April, 1817, snow fell to the depth of two feet by actual measurement, and on the 10th of May in the following year snow fell to the depth of nine inches. On the 19th of April, 1820, Jotham and Thomas Clark crossed Conesus lake on the ice. On the 13th of July, 1816 a severe frost de- stroyed most of the corn and injured the potato crop. On the 10th of September of the same year another frost destroyed the remainder of the crops. Potatoes that year were worth $1 a bushel, and corn $1.25. Marrowback hill suffered greatly. Nathaniel Cole said that many families actually came near starving. For himself, he was obliged to go to the woods, cut timber and burn log heaps so that he might get ashes to sell, to supply his family with the necessaries of life.
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Bears and deer were so plenty as to be troublesome. As late as 1816 farmers found it necessary to watch their wheat crops in the early morning. to prevent the deer from nipping off the growing blades, and bears were so bold as to render it somewhat dangerous to travel about the woods without a dog or gun. Wolves were very plenty. James McNinch was burning a coal pit, occupying a shanty at night. During the afternoon he had killed a deer and carried the choicest parts to his cabin. The wolves scented the blood and at night gathered about the shanty. McNinch was compelled to set fire to a pile of wood near the door and use his gun to keep them from breaking in.
In common with other new settlements, Conesus felt the scarcity of money in early days. Even in matrimonial matters the local magistrates were called upon to take trade in place of cash. A young broom- maker traveled several miles on foot with his betrothed, one winter afternoon, to have Davenport Alger marry them. Calling the justice aside he offered him two well finished splint brooms if he would perform the ceremony. The offer was declined, and the couple trudged off to find another justice. They met Esquire Blake on horseback. The rueful story of the would- be bridegroom carried the point; the magistrate jumped off his horse, united the pair, shouldered his brooms and resumed his journey.
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